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Zoom is now critical infrastructure – that’s a concern

brookings.edu

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Re: Zoom is now critical infrastructure – that’s a concern

#111

Post by forgotmysn »

scottlamb wrote: post #91
impendia wrote: post #71

I don't buy it. The same factors that made Zoom easy to adopt, make it equally easy to switch to something else. And "when Zoom goes down, teachers can’t teach"? Come on. I am a college professor. In my class this fall I met my students on Blackboard on Day 1 and Zoom on Day 2. If one of them goes down for the day, we'll switch to the other.

> And "when Zoom goes down, teachers can’t teach"? Come on. I am a college professor. In my class this fall I met my students on Blackboard on Day 1 and Zoom on Day 2. If one of them goes down for the day, we'll switch to the other. I think it's for real. Think about elementary school instead. The kids are just learning to use computers. Their parents may be also, and if not they may be trying to do their own work fr…

the kids in elementary schools were born into the digital age. they're digital natives from the get, and are probably more comfortable using digital tools than we are

Re: Zoom is now critical infrastructure – that’s a concern

#112

Post by forgotmysn »

citizenkeen wrote: post #72
quietbritishjim wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And unlike many other services, the network effect is quite low because I can easily install multiple video conferencing software or even run some in the browser. If someone organising a meeting asks to use something unusual, I'm normally not that bothered.

My wife sees doctors at four different clinics. Each has chosen a different remote meeting solution. It's non-negotiable - to see your doctor remotely, you need to use their software. And that's just in one field. I'm not concerned about Zoom monopoly at all.

medical is a little different because those comms tools need to be HIPPA-compliant

Re: Zoom is now critical infrastructure – that’s a concern

#113

Post by reaperducer »

choward wrote: post #86
freeone3000 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jitsi makes one of my friend's MacBooks fan too loud so we can't use it.

I know it's not ideal and not everyone has one, but couldn't your friend wear a headset so the microphone isn't right next to the fans?

The problem isn't the user, it's the software.

I'm no Zoom fan, but in the Zoom meeting I had this morning with 38 people my 2015 MacBook Pro's processor peaked at 11%.

Zoom knows how to do something better than the other companies. They really need to catch up.

Re: Zoom is now critical infrastructure – that’s a concern

#114

Post by FpUser »

I work from home for the last 20 years. My clients and my workforce/subcontractors are all over the world. I had to use Zoom only with one particular client as of their insistence. Other then that I do just fine with the Skype. Not sure what is so "critical" about Zoom in particular.

Re: Zoom is now critical infrastructure – that’s a concern

#115

Post by reaperducer »

tomxor wrote: post #107

BS, people use what works, it's just video calls. What I find most bizarre is why zoom is on top, this is probably a lesson in how powerful marketing and timing can be for some types of products... But as a counter example: everyone at my company has ended up using google meets, just because through trial and error it fails the least and is the easiest for everyone to get into. The last time I tried zoom for an exter…

this is probably a lesson in how powerful marketing and timing can be

No, it's a lesson in how powerful "just working" works.

Re: Zoom is now critical infrastructure – that’s a concern

#116

Post by EvilPaticus »

forgotmysn wrote: post #111
scottlamb wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And "when Zoom goes down, teachers can’t teach"? Come on. I am a college professor. In my class this fall I met my students on Blackboard on Day 1 and Zoom on Day 2. If one of them goes down for the day, we'll switch to the other. I think it's for real. Think about elementary school instead. The kids are just learning to use computers. Their parents may be also, and if not they may be trying to do their own work fr…

the kids in elementary schools were born into the digital age. they're digital natives from the get, and are probably more comfortable using digital tools than we are

That seems pretty short-sighted. Sure my 1st grader knows his way around an iPad enough to play games and watch Netflix, that doesn't mean he's going to understand installing new software or what it means when Zoom isn't working and they have to switch to Hangouts. Yeah, he'll come ask me and I'll figure it out quickly, but I've interacted with enough other parents to know that being able to do so isn't commonplace. Heck even the teachers get confused just setting that stuff up.

Re: Zoom is now critical infrastructure – that’s a concern

#117

Post by Spivak »

reaperducer wrote: post #93
impendia wrote: post #71

I don't buy it. The same factors that made Zoom easy to adopt, make it equally easy to switch to something else. And "when Zoom goes down, teachers can’t teach"? Come on. I am a college professor. In my class this fall I met my students on Blackboard on Day 1 and Zoom on Day 2. If one of them goes down for the day, we'll switch to the other.

I am a college professor. In my class this fall I met my students on Blackboard on Day 1 and Zoom on Day 2. If one of them goes down for the day, we'll switch to the other. That's great for college. Not every educational experience is in a college with a big fat IT department to support it. Think elementary and secondary schools. According to the newspapers this week, the school district where I live has 27,000 stude…

I think the difficulty in onboarding students and parents with anything the first time is going to be the hardest and most painful.

But once you're there lock-in is pretty minimal because joining a class is just "click the link the teacher sent out this morning."

Re: Zoom is now critical infrastructure – that’s a concern

#119

Post by tingletech »

notahacker wrote: post #103
reaperducer wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A six-year-old student is not an employee.

A six year old student also isn't someone who's at risk of losing a business deal because they can't get their IT team to let them install one of the client's suggested alternative webconferencing systems to do the demo at a particular point in time. Of the many potential problems six year olds accessing education primarily through webconferencing may face, I'm not sure inability to choose their own preferred videoco…

I think the discussion is "what happens when zoom goes down?" -- and the college professor said "use blackboard". A first grader with a locked down computer set up for zoom won't be able to install blackboard.

Re: Zoom is now critical infrastructure – that’s a concern

#120

Post by larrik »

tomxor wrote: post #107

BS, people use what works, it's just video calls. What I find most bizarre is why zoom is on top, this is probably a lesson in how powerful marketing and timing can be for some types of products... But as a counter example: everyone at my company has ended up using google meets, just because through trial and error it fails the least and is the easiest for everyone to get into. The last time I tried zoom for an exter…

Juggling my work with my kids' schools, I've been monitoring bandwidth, and Zoom is a small fraction of the bandwidth of Google Meet, with better performance to boot.
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